It’s time for the annual repost of my family’s beer nog recipe! (Well, actually my dad got the recipe from a beer magazine.)
Don’t knock it ’til you try it. I’ve served this to many people. Everyone thinks it sounds terrible–and everyone has liked it a lot. And even if you don’t like it, well, just leave out the beer, the homemade eggnog is tasty on its own too.
Beer nog
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. milk
1 c. heavy (whipping) cream
nutmeg, vanilla
Brown ale, like Newcastle. Other English- and Scottish-style ales will work. But nothing too hoppy. Not sure if a stout or porter would work, or a strong Belgian-style ale. Lagers, wheat beers, fruit beers, etc. would be terrible, I think.
Rum (optional)
Preparation
Whip the cream. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and milk into the cream until smooth. Season with dash nutmeg, dash vanilla. Beat egg whites, fold into eggnog.
Fill a 6-8 oz glass 1/4 full with beer. (Optional: add 1/2 oz. rum; don’t go overboard as you don’t want to overwhelm the beer) Fill glass with eggnog.
Don’t go overboard on the beer or you end up with something closer to what’s featured in the video at the end of this post. 🙂
Notes
This eggnog is sweeter than the store bought stuff. I think that’s what makes it work with the beer, they balance one another. I’ve tried this with store bought eggnog and it doesn’t really work.
In the comments a while back, it was noted that this bears a passing resemblance to ale posset, which is hot milk curdled with beer. I’ve never tried posset, and don’t plan to. It not only sounds bad, commenters report that it actually is bad (so Eric, if you’re reading: No Posset). Whereas beer nog only sounds bad. 🙂
Dynamic Ecology 
I will definitely try this recipe. However, I’ll admit I’m a bit disappointed in the directions, especially since it’s posted by a scientist! For instance, how far do you whip the cream and the egg whites (til thickened or hard peaks?) Do you mix the beer in with the ‘nog at the end, or will they remain separated? I’m hoping for a bit more clarification before I set up extensive trials in my kitchen to test for beer nog optima. 🙂
This isn’t the sort of recipe that demands precision. It’s not baking. Baking is a science, but cooking is an art. 🙂
Just whip the cream and whites until thickened, maybe soft peaks.
I don’t mix the nog and beer, but I guess you could if you want to.
Testing for optima is part of the fun. Because it obliges you to drink a lot of beer and eggnog. 🙂